Saturday, April 26, 2008

Chicago Battle of the Books

Today my daughter competed in the Chicago Public Schools Battle of the Books. There was 66 schools and over 100 teams that competed. There was a 4-6 grade division and a 7-8 grade division. My daughter's team was in the 4-6 grade division.

If you never heard of Battle of the Books it is a competition to encourage children to read books. It started in the 1930s as a Chicago radio program. There are a team of 4-6 students. There are 3 rounds 15 questions per round. There are 3 teams competing in each round. The team has to answer questions related to the books that are on the competition book list. Each team member has to read a minimum of 10 books out of 21 books. When they answer correctly they also have to state the title and the author. The teams with the highest point totals out of the three rounds will go to the final round. The team with highest points wins the competition. If there is a tie the teams compete until an answer is wrong then that team is out and the other team wins.

My daughter's team did very well. They missed only 5 questions out of 45. We all were waiting to hear the top three teams. 2 teams were automatically in the final round. There was a 3-way tie for the third spot. They called Solomon and Jackson for the first two spots. My daughter's team, coach and parents were holding their breaths. They announce Bell, Norward Park, annnnnnnnnnnnnd Cuffe. We were disappointed that Goudy was not competing for the last spot. Everyone was so sure. Ohh well, maybe next year. I am very proud of Goudy. Even though they did not make into the final round the Goudy team did a wonderful job.

The final round was Bell, Solomon, and Jackson. They were sooooo good. Again we had a tie for first place. It was between Solomon and Jackson. Between the two tie rounds they had used up all of the questions so it was decided that Solomon and Jackson would tie for first and Bell would be second. We are not sure where Goudy placed, but hopefully in the top 10. This year the competition was very tight, so who knows.

This is Goudy's second year. They did better this year than last year.

Congratulations to Solomon, Jackson, and Bell for doing so well. But watch out for Goudy, next year we are coming for you.

I was on the 4th-6th grade team at Clissold in 2006, and we won first place! It was sooo much fun. =] That was the first year the Battle of the Books was held for the Chicago Public Schools, or at least that's what they told us. I had no idea it was started in the 30s! My school won 2nd place in the 7th-8th grade team the next year also! =D I think the Battle of the Books is a great program, and that more students should be involved. Most students think that reading is stupid, boring, and pointless, but it really isn't. It's a fun way to get away from your own life and "see" different things. Once our team won the first time, I noticed that less and less of Clissold's students were saying those things. =] I am now attending Whitney M. Young High School and am a bit disappointed that they are not included in the high school competition, but they do have book clubs!

Today of the books and it was really fun. Our team did not make it into the finals but we won everyone. So in the end we were still winners even if we didn't win every round. But I am fine with loosing and so does my whole team.But it was really fun and I don't regret begin it in.